Past Revealed
by Medie Shanachie
Summary: Sometimes your past comes back to bite you in the butt.
1. Chapter 1

_Disclaimer: I don't own Eliot Spencer, Alec Hardison, or Leverage. I do own this plot and the various OCs scattered through-out.  
Author's Note: So I got to musing the other day on what Eliot did with his money. Cuz ya know...he never told us. Or the team. Or yeah...and sometimes letting my mind run away with itself is not a good thing. But this time we all get to have fun. :-) And there will be a few more parts after this...not sure how long it will be because this is still a WIP. This was the best title that **eaglesis40** and I could come up with. Thanks to **angelskuuipo** and **tommyhanson** who read an earlier draft and told me to keep going._

* * *

The ringing of the phone jolted Eliot awake, but there was no trace of sleep when he answered, "What?"

"They took Ben," a familiar voice said.

The sentence wiped any trace of sleep from his mind. "Who's they, Bri?" he asked as he sat up. "And where?"

"I'm in Idaho. The last job I pulled. They took Ben for collateral. Everything went fine, until I went to get him back. He _wasn't_ there."

"Damn it, Bri. I gave you that money so you wouldn't i_have_/i to pull anymore jobs." He grabbed the nearest pair of jeans and pulled them on, not bothering with anything else. "You can't have spent it all already."

"I didn't. I agreed to this before you gave me the money. It just got delayed. I tried to back out, but they threatened Ben. I couldn't refuse."

He pushed his hair back, leaning his head against the window glass. "All right. I'll fly into Boise tomorrow. What color is your hair now?"

He could almost hear the smile in her voice. "The same color it was in Berlin. Think you can find me?"

"Yeah. I'll find you. I'll give you a call when I know when I'm flying in."

"You bringing your own toys?" she asked.

"Some, but I assume you'll have stuff I can borrow?"

"Actually you left a few things here. I'll make sure they're in the Jeep."

"Fine. I'll see you tomorrow."

* * * * * * * *

Eliot dropped his duffel on top of his desk and pulled out his drawer, looking for some stuff. He'd packed clothes at home and just wanted to add a few things. Rifling through the drawers, he frowned. "Parker!" he yelled. "Where's my damn knife?"

The blond thief poked her head into his office. "What knife?"

"The one I keep taped to the underside of this drawer."

She shrugged. "I didn't take it."

He slammed the drawer shut, causing Nate and Hardison to poke their heads in. Nate motioned for the two younger members to leave. "Is there a problem?" he wanted to know.

"No," Eliot growled. "I'll just take a different one."

"Where?"

"I have to leave for a few days. Take care of something." Eliot retrieved a knife from another hiding spot, but Nate didn't react. "I'll be back before you get another job scheduled."

"Take Hardison."

Eliot's movements betrayed his feelings. "I don't need help."

"I didn't say you did. I just thought you might like the company."

"This is personal, Nate," Eliot replied, "not business."

"Take Hardison," Nate repeated. "That wasn't a suggestion."

"Ya know I'm not sure I like you sober." Eliot zipped up his bag. "Hardison, I'm leaving in ten. If you aren't ready with a ticket, I'm leaving without you."

Hardison looked around the wall in confusion. "Leaving for where?"

"Boise, Idaho."

* * * * * * * *

Once settled on the airplane, Eliot pulled his cowboy hat down over his eyes and settled back in his seat. "Why are we going to Boise?" Hardison asked.

"_I'm_ going because a friend asked for help. _You're_ going because Nate told me to take you," Eliot replied.

"But what's in Boise? I mean it's Idaho. There's a big lot of nothing out there."

"Hardison, shut up." When the computer geek opened his mouth again, Eliot added, "If you don't shut up, I'll make you and I don't feel like explaining an unconscious body. Or hauling your skinny carcass around." After a few minutes of silence, Eliot settled into a waking doze. He didn't know exactly what he'd find in Boise, but with Bri involved it wouldn't be uneventful.


	2. Chapter 2

_Author's Note: Still don't own anyone but my own characters and the plot...hoping to work more on this during the week, but I've got a lot going on at work (we're getting inspected by the state *makes a face*) and a whole bunch of other things going on, plus an original story due for a contest by the 31st...so not sure when I'm gonna get to it. Special thanks also go to **trulybloom** who gave me a great idea on how to finish the next part after this, although I haven't worked on it yet. Hope everyone is happy that this will be continued...  
_

* * *

"So how do we find this guy?" Hardison asked as they deplaned a few hours later.

Eliot was scanning the crowd, cataloging each person and either dismissing them or filing their location away. "She'll find me," he answered absently. Spotting the exit sign, he indicated it. "That way."

When they emerged from the building, blinking against the sunlight, Hardison asked, "So where's this friend?"

A grin spread across Eliot's face as a black Jeep pulled up in front of them, the rag top missing and the driver's red hair streaming out behind her. Hardison's jaw dropped at the brief shorts and shirt she was wearing. "Hey, Cowboy," she greeted him. "Need a ride?"

Eliot tossed his duffel into the back, motioning for Hardison to do the same. "Bri Evans, Alec Hardison. Hardison, same." He clambered into the front of the Jeep as the computer man settled into the middle of the back. "Nice timing."

"Figured you'd be heading out about this time." She checked behind them and pulled out into traffic as she ordered, "Seat belts." As she navigated the mess, she asked, "Who's the geek?"

"A friend," Eliot answered as he tried to avoid watching the near misses her driving consisted of. "He'll be helpful. Wanna explain to me how Ben ended up being the collateral?"

"I told them no. Said I wasn't doing this anymore. Next thing I know, I'm getting a phone call that if I don't want him returned to me in pieces, I'll complete the job." She took the turn that would eventually dump them onto the highway, downshifting as she picked up speed. "They grabbed him right off the ranch."

"I thought you said the ranch was safe."

"Hey, you double-checked the security so don't bitch to me that it isn't safe. But it's a lot of wide open. If I'm with him every second, he starts to complain."

Hardison leaned forward. "Can I interrupt her to ask who or what a Ben is?"

"Alec! Duck!" Eliot yelled, his forearm snapping up so her elbow collided with it instead of Hardison's nose. He had anticipated her move, knowing that she was coiled too tightly now to take a question like that from someone she didn't know. "You wanna hit someone, you wait til we get back to your place and we can go as many rounds as you want, but you _don't_ get to smack Hardison around," he growled. "No matter how much he pisses you off."

She glanced over at him, then reached between his legs and flipped a switch. "You sure you wanna go there again, Eliot?"

Realizing what she was about to do, Eliot grabbed the roll bar. "Hang onto something, Hardison," he ordered as she floored it.

* * * * * * * *

Eliot bit back a grin at Hardison's face when Bri pulled to a stop in front of her house. "By the way, Bri thinks speed limits are just suggestions," he offered as he swung down.

"That...that...that was scarier than when Parker pushed me off the building!" Hardison exclaimed.

"You get used to it after a while," a man called as he exited the bunk house and ambled up to them. "Bri, everythin's wrapped up and if ya don't need me anymore, I'll head out."

"The stock's all over at the _Double or Nothing_?" she asked.

"Yes, ma'am. And all the boys are gone." He took his hat off and smacked it on his jeans, raising a small cloud of dust. He eyed the two men standing by the Jeep with suspicion. "Will you be all right?"

Eliot looked the weather-beaten man over. He didn't know that Eliot was the one who had chosen him for the position of ranch manager and not Bri. He was glad to see the man was still employed; his easy-going nature had been one of the main selling points. Bri had taken a step closer to Eliot when she was questioned, obviously throwing her loyalty with the younger man. "I'll be fine, Danny. Go on home to Madge. Eliot's an old...friend."

The man plopped his hat back on his head. "Y'all call me if you need anything. Madge left dinner warming in the oven." Obviously feeling his part of the conversation was over, he turned around, spitting tobacco on the ground as he headed towards a beat-up pick-up truck.

Hardison was looking between the three people as he tried to figure out what was going on. As the engine started up and he realized the man was going to leave him here with the two crazy people that could probably kill him with one finger, he backed towards the Jeep. "Oh, hell, no, Eliot. I did _not_ sign up for this."

Eliot looked at him in confusion. "Sign up for what?"

"I'm a city boy. This..." Hardison waved his hand at the expanse of openness around them. "This is so _not_ a city!" He pointed at the red head, who was mounting the steps to the big house. "And I think _she's_ crazier than Parker!"

Eliot pulled his bag from the back of the Jeep. "Hardison, you're stuck here. Grab your stuff and come into the house. I think you'll be surprised at what you find."

The floor plan hadn't changed since the last time he had been in her house, so he dropped his bag right inside the door and headed for kitchen. "What's to eat?" he asked.

Bri was closing up the oven as Eliot entered; Hardison on his heels. "Scalloped potatoes and ham. You aren't a vegetarian, are you?" she asked.

"Ah, no," Hardison replied after a moment when he realized she was speaking to him.

"Good. Dinner'll be about forty-five more minutes." She turned her attention to Eliot. "Just enough time for you to get your ass kicked."

He grinned at the challenge. "You can try."

"Downstairs. Five minutes. And leave the geek here." She stalked out of the room.

"Whoa. Whoa. Whoa. What is she planning?" Hardison asked as he trailed Eliot back into the other room.

Eliot was already pulling a change of clothes out of his bag. "She's not _planning_ anything, Hardison. This isn't the first time we've sparred. Hopefully she'll be in a better mood after wards." He pointed through an archway. "There's a TV in there and she's got satellite and DVDs. Stay in there; you won't like the consequences if you wander."

When he got downstairs, Bri was bouncing to her feet, having obviously just finished stretching. Her shorts and shirt were gone and she was wearing the bottom to a karate gi and a tank top. "So explain to me what's with the geek?"

"He's a friend, Bri. He came along to help us find Ben." Eliot dropped his clothes on the bench and then when she didn't seem inclined to turn, asked, "No privacy?"

"What? It's not like I haven't seen it before."

Eliot sighed, but began stripping down. "So what information do you have for me?"

"I contracted for the job about eight months ago," Bri explained as she watched him. He tried not to flinch under her scrutiny. "It got called off three weeks after that and I forgot about it. Then you sent me the money. I poured some of it into the ranch, invested it, dumped it into various accounts, the usual stuff. I bought Ben a couple of things he had been asking for and told them they were from you. Then about a month ago, I was contacted again."


	3. Chapter 3

_Author's Note: Special Thanks to **angelskuuipo** for her help in beta'ing this chapter. She greatly improved it. Let's see if y'all can figure out what she did about Eliot, Bri, and their past. ;-). I haven't written anything more after this and I want to work on Bri and Eliot's sneak appearance in another fic before I write more here...so it'll be a few days or a week or more before I update again. So hopefully this'll hold y'all._

* * *

He nodded. It wasn't that unusual for a job to be put aside if things changed, although normally someone else was contacted then. He knew how good Bri was at what she did though. Not only was she one of the best in the business, but she had never been caught or even truly identified since she often changed her appearance. "So you told them no?" he questioned, stepping onto the mats and stretching quickly. Already he could feel himself falling into the rhythms of being with her. It was comforting, familiar; like the team was becoming familiar.

"I told them no," she confirmed. Reaching out with her hand, she waited for him to clasp it. "Ready?"

He nodded. "No head shots. Nothing permanently disabling. Three hits or tap out," he established the rules.

"That's fair," she agreed. "I'll give you the rest of the information on Ben when we go upstairs again?"

He nodded, completing the motion by lashing out with his fist. Bri twisted, but he still clipped her on the ribs, knocking the breath from her. She grinned, dancing back out of his reach and then sliding back in to fire a kick at his thigh.

Eliot allowed it to land, knowing she would pull her strength a little, and then countered with a harder blow to her ribs. "Hit," she gasped. "Damn. Who've you been working out with?"

"Not you, darlin'," he answered. "Breather?"

She bared her teeth and came at him; a flurry of kicks and punches that forced him to give ground until he tumbled off the mat. Turning his tumble into a roll, he moved into a crouch. "Hit," he conceded. "Not bad, Bri. But stop dropping your left."

"I only get one for that?" she asked.

"If I only get one for two rib blows," he replied.

"Fair 'nough." She backed up so he could move back into place. She bounced on her feet as he prowled around her, turning in place to keep him in her sights. "I missed this," she admitted. "Not nearly as fun to beat up on my ranch hands. I need them in one piece."

He ignored her chatter. When she couldn't predict what he was planning, she'd start babbling and that's what she was doing now. Flipping his hair out of his face, he darted in, sweeping her legs out from under her. Catching her around the waist as they tumbled to the mats, he twisted so he didn't land full force atop her.

Bri grinned, locking her legs around his waist and flipping them both. Looking down at him, she pointed out, "This is a familiar position."

"You always did like being on top." Tossing her off, he got to his feet. "Tapping out?"

"Hell no," she answered. "I haven't even started." It was her chance to circle now as he took a moment to pull his hair back and away from his neck. "Your hair's a lot longer now. I can't decide if I like it or not. But..." She darted in, grabbing the ponytail he had just made and pressing up against him. "It makes a handy hold."

The kiss started out as a battle, but then old memories took over. Even after so much time, her body was familiar against his. Her scent, sweaty as it was, a known quality. Her hands stopped yanking at his hair and sunk in as he pulled her tighter against him. "We can't," he whispered when they separated.

"Why not?" she asked. "Is there someone else?"

"No. At least no one serious," he told her, tenderly brushing her hair away from her face. "But I came to help you with Ben. Not to do _this_." He frowned at her look. "Not to have sex with you," he clarified. "Sparring is fine."

"I need you, Eliot. I need _all_ of you."

He moved away from her, running his hand through his hair and pulling out the elastic. "We made the decision to stop that part of our relationship because of Ben. Are you honestly saying you can go back and not have it interfere now?"

"Yes. No." She threw up her hands. "I don't know! I just want Ben back!"

Hesitantly, knowing she would have no compunctions about kicking him in the balls or the kneecap, he approached her. Wrapping his arms around her, he pulled her back against his body. "Shh," he said, "we'll find him. Hardison is the best hacker on the planet and between the two of us have we ever failed to retrieve anything we've been sent after? We'll get him back. Then, if you want, I'll very politely beat the shit out of every man that laid a hand on him. Or I'll hold them for you while you do it."

She wiped away tears that she would never admit to. "This is why I called you."

"What so I could be your physical and emotional punching bag?" he asked.

"No because you always know what to say to make me calm down."

"Yeah." He tugged on her hair. "You sure this isn't your natural hair color, darlin'?" he asked. "Cause you sure have the temper for it."

"I told you that's one thing I'd never tell you," she replied. She glanced at the clock. "Dinner time."

"So what will I learn this time?" he asked as they climbed the stairs.

"That I can still kick your ass," Bri called as they separated and she headed for the kitchen.

"I think it was a draw!" Eliot called back.

"Dinner in five. Wash up and find your geek. He better not be messing around."

Eliot wasn't surprised to find Hardison in front of the flat-screen staring at it in fascination. "Hey, Hardison. Bri's putting dinner on the table."

"This is one serious ass system, man," Hardison said as he flicked it off and got to his feet. "I mean seventy-two inch plasma, satellite, surround sound. I thought this friend of yours was some ass kicker like you?"

"She is," Eliot confirmed, "but Ben likes his cartoons. And Bri has a hell of a time telling him 'no'."

"I seem to have an easier time than you do," Bri pointed out. "Beer or water? Or I've got juice, I think. Definitely have milk."

"Beer's fine," Eliot said, assuming that she had the brand he drank. "Hardison?"

"Ah, milk's good," Hardison replied. "I'll get it if you want."

She pointed at the fridge and the computer man went over, poking through, then asked, "Where is it? Like a gallon or something?"

Eliot chuckled. "Man, it's not pasteurized. It's in a pitcher."

"Say _what_?!" The look on the other man's face caused both of them to laugh harder. "What?" he asked. "What does that mean?"

Bri reached past him and pulled out the container. "I don't buy it at the store, Mr. Hardison. I own a couple of milch cows and we get milk from them." At his confused look, she explained as she pulled two glasses out of a near-by cupboard, "Milch cows are cattle bred for milk. On a ranch like this one, they're also kept around in case a cow rejects her calf." Turning to Eliot, she informed him, "There's fresh eggs for tomorrow's breakfast, too."

"Oh, so you expect me to help find Ben _and_ to cook?" he asked.

She shrugged. "The cooking is your choice. But you _know_ what happens when I cook."

He winced remembering the few times she had tried it. "Yeah, ya know I prefer not to visit the hospital. At least not for food poisoning."

Hardison paused with the forkful halfway to his mouth. "Is this safe?"

"Oh, yeah, Danny's wife, Madge cooks for Ben and me on a regular basis. I can heat things up. It's just the actual _cooking_ I can't do," Bri answered, unconcerned with his panic.

"Or baking or mixing or anything that is involved other than sticking it in the microwave and heating it up," Eliot pointed out.

"Hey, I haven't killed you...yet."

"It's the yet that I'll remind you has to be tacked on," Eliot said with a grin.

"So how'd y'all meet?" Hardison asked, out of curiosity and figuring it was better to change the subject, but not actually anticipating an answer.

Eliot laughed; the most open sound that Hardison had ever heard from him, as Bri blushed bright red, but neither one of them answered. After a minute, the retrieval specialist said, "Ya might as well tell him. I'm sure there's a record of it somewhere."

She shook her head. "There shouldn't be. But we've got enough other records scattered around. Plus hearsay and rumor."

Hardison raised his eyebrows at that. "Oh, now I do want to hear. Please tell me there's blackmail involved."

Eliot glared at him. "Need I remind you of how many ways I can kill you?" he asked as Bri grinned.

Hardison gulped. "I was...I was joking, Eliot. You know...you know I'd never use it. I mean we're friends, man."

Bri choked back her laughter, knowing this was the wrong time. At Eliot's look and slight nod, she answered, "I met Eliot when I was hired to kill him. I decided it would be more fun to have sex with him. And then team up with him."


	4. Chapter 4

_Author's Note: So here we go...a little more background and ya get to find out more about Bri, Ben, and Eliot...and what's going on._

_Hardison and Eliot don't belong to me...more's the pity. :-) Thanks to Dean Devlin and the creators of Leverage for giving us such a great playground!_

_

* * *

  
_

Hardison spit milk across the table as both retrieval specialists ducked. "I'm sorry," he said as he looked around for something to clean it up with.

Bri fetched a towel and mopped up the mess before tossing it into the sink. "But that's in the past." She resumed her seat at the table. "You're here for another reason."

"Yeah. You're not really reassuring me, Bri," Eliot said. "How did Ben end up as collateral?"

Bri glared back at him. "It's not like I offered him up. I haven't taken a job since you sent the money. I've been _trying_ to protect him. You sure as _hell_ aren't doing that much."

"I _help_ by staying as far away from you two as possible; by trying _not_ to draw attention to our relationship," Eliot snapped.

Bri opened her mouth to fight back, but Hardison broke in, "Hey. Hey, you two! This really isn't gonna help. You two fighting is just going to amp up tempers. It's not going to solve your issue." As the other two settled back down, returning to their seats, he asked, "Who _is_ Ben?"

Bri sighed. "Ben is my son. He's eight." She pushed away from the table; leaving the room.

Hardison looked at Eliot, who had leaned back in his chair and had a look of resignation on his face. "Her son? These people took her _son_ as collateral?"

"Yeah," Bri answered as she re-entered the room; her hand brushing Eliot's shoulder in reassurance. "They're real assholes." She passed the frame in her hand to Hardison.

"Who hired you, Bri?" Eliot asked as Hardison studied the picture. "What did you have to get and where is it now?"

"Blind hire, but I had Wurmz4U do some digging and I got a name. Andrei Smirnov."

"Sounds Russian," Hardison commented.

"Ya think?" Bri shot back.

"Bri!" Eliot snapped. "It ain't his fault. Lay off." He ran a hand through his hair, visibly calming himself, and then folded his hands on the table. "What did you fetch?"

"Being a retrieval specialist does _not_ mean I fetch!"

"Bri," Eliot warned.

"Fine." She glared at her former lover. "I found and _recovered_ four of the eight lost Faberge eggs. The Romanov ones. Now he wants the other four. I gave him one as a show of good faith. The others are safe."

"You found four of the missing Romanov eggs?" Hardison questioned.

"No, I _found_ all eight. I only _recovered_ four of them." Bri got up; pacing the confines between the table and the door. "I can't get three of them easily. Sasha has the Alexander III Commemorative egg."

Eliot looked surprised at that information. "Have you talked to Sasha?"

She paused; nodding once quickly. "He'll turn it over to me on the condition that I get it back and it gets returned to him."

Eliot's mouth quirked. "That's Sasha."

Hardison kept one eye on Bri, who had resumed pacing, and the other on his laptop which he had booted up and was searching the lost Romanov eggs. "Is Sasha Ben's father?" he whispered to Eliot.

"No," Eliot answered absently. He was watching Bri avidly. "Which eggs do you have, which one did you turn over, and where are the other three?"

"I've got Empire Nephrite, the Mauve, and Alexander III Portrait eggs. I gave Andrei the Royal Danish egg."

"And the other three?" Eliot questioned.

"One is locked in a vault and two are in a private collection." She straddled the chair. "I was working on getting the others when I went to meet him to do the exchange for Ben."

The two men exchanged a look. "Parker," they said in unison.

Bri snorted. "She's crazier than I am."

"That's debatable," Hardison mumbled.

"What about running a con on the owner of the other two?" Eliot suggested.

"He'll turn them over to a descendant of the Romanovs...I think." Bri held out a lock of her hair. "Issue is even if I dye this, I can't pass for Russian."

Hardison looked up from his laptop. "Sounds like we need to call in the rest of the team."

Eliot glanced at the clock. "They should still be in the office." Waving a hand at the computer, he continued, "Can you get them on there?"

"Yes, Mr. Techno-phobe, I can get _them_ on _there_. But I need a strong wifi connection to do that."

"You can get that," Bri answered. "Just open your port. My server should be up and running."

"What exactly are you running out here that you have a system in your living room like that and..." Hardison's eyes bugged as his laptop found the connection, "a series one wifi?"

"I have an eight year old living in the back end of no where and I've owned this ranch for a while. It was get the things to entertain my kid or suffer." Her mouth quirked as Eliot looked at her. "He takes after his father a bit."

Eliot coughed at her words. "You got it open?" he asked Hardison. "They gonna know what to do?"

Hardison continued to work as he spoke, "It'll automatically open a window in the office and hopefully someone is near enough to hear me." Toggling Skype open, he angled the screen and called, "Hey, Nate? Nate? Sophie? Hello? Anybody home?"

A blonde head appeared in his screen and smirked at him. "Hi, Hardison! How'd you do that?"


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Eliot Spencer, Alec Hardison, the rest of the team, or Leverage. I do own this plot and the various OCs scattered through-out. Hardison and Eliot don't belong to me...more's the pity. :-) Thanks to Dean Devlin and the creators of Leverage for giving us such a great playground!

**Spoilers:** Show--none specifically, Takes place after the end of the first season, A few of the more commonly used phrases pop up--see if you can find them :-)

**Author's Note:** So here we go...a little more background and ya get to find out more about Bri, Ben, and Eliot...and what's going on. I hope I've managed to get Eliot and Hardison here because the boys were not exactly co-operative. I may or may not explain some of the stuff that goes on between Eliot and Bri--they haven't decided yet if I'm allowed to tell that part of their story. The actual tale of their meeting is in the process of being written so once I get it done, I'll post it. Oh and Ben's "best friend" is courtesy of **SageK**. She agreed with me that Ben needed a dog and it was one of our conversations one night that got him the type he has. The rest (name, what Eliot calls the dog) is purely me. I will admit that Eliot's name for the dog comes from what I tend to call my brother's dog though--but I call my brother's dog that for a _completely_ different reason. Enjoy!

* * *

"Age of the...,"Hardison trailed off. "Ya know never mind. Are Nate and Sophie still there?"

"We're here, Hardison. What's going on?" Nate asked, coming into view.

Eliot swung the computer around so that Nate could see him. "The problem's a little bigger than Hardison and I can handle, Nate. I don't want to do this, but I need to ask another favor."

"_Another_ favor?" Bri demanded in a whisper from behind him.

Eliot waved her off as Nate said, "Personal or professional?"

"Personal favor, but we need the professional knowledge of the team," Eliot answered.

"We?" Nate questioned as behind him Sophie raised her eyebrows.

"I'll explain when you get here," Eliot replied. "Just...an old friend asked for help."

"We're not going to have issues like the last time, are we?"

"No horses involved in the con this time," Eliot promised. "Crazy Russians maybe." He turned to Hardison. "Can we get them here by tomorrow?"

Hardison had already been working on travel arrangements in another window. "Yup. Long as someone, _not Bri_, goes to the airport and picks them up." He finished the last of purchase and sent an email to Nate. "Okay, tickets are in your inbox, Nate. Three of them in the names of Roger, Sheila, and Janice Majors. I.D.s are in my desk in the middle drawer."

"Why aren't I going to pick them up?" Bri demanded in the background as Nate nodded, looking at the list Hardison had also sent.

"Cause we'd like them to arrive in one piece," Hardison answered.

Eliot knew Bri was going to take offense so he immediately headed her off. "Bri, it's more important that you contact Sasha and we start the ball rolling for Sophie. Hardison can go get them. You've got a map or something, right?"

"I know what you're doing," she told him. "But yeah, the Jeep has GPS as do all of the trucks." She glanced at the clock. "And I can call Sasha now."

"No," Nate instructed from the screen. "Hardison, Eliot. I want everything you've got on what's happening. Do _not_ make a move until we get there. We'll be ready to go almost as soon as we set down."

All of them had been ignoring the low voiced argument that Bri and Eliot were having, but now Bri's voice crescendoed, "He's _my_ son!"

Eliot shouted her down, "I _trust_ them." When she subsided, he said emphatically, "I trust _them_ with _you_. I trust _them_ with _Ben_."

All of them stared at the two as they faced off. Hardison backed away, sliding himself and his computer to the far end of the table. Bri had closed herself off; her arms were wrapped around her body and she was glaring at Eliot. "_My_ son," she reminded him in a quiet, but no less deadly, voice.

Eliot forced himself to untense, reminding his body that this was Bri; that she had never purposely hurt him. "Do you trust me?" he asked in a low voice. When she didn't answer him after a minute, but continued to glare at him, he repeated, "Bri, darlin', do you trust _me_?"

"Don't you 'darlin' me," she snapped.

He nodded, held a hand out to her, remembering that she hated pet names when she was angry or frustrated with him. "Do you trust me?" he repeated.

"Three times," she told him. He nodded. They had both shut out Hardison and the others; were wholly focused on each other. "Trust earned. Trust returned." It was her turn to nod. "You only get enough rope to hang yourself."

"Fair enough." He linked his fingers through hers, drawing him closer to him. "You need sleep, Bri." Kissing the side of her head, he said gently, "Go to bed. Hardison and I'll finish up here and head up. The rest of the team'll be here tomorrow and we'll get Ben back. I promise."

"Something better happen tomorrow," Bri warned.

"It will," Eliot assured her. "Nate's damn good at this stuff." As he released her and she turned to go, he realized something. "Bri, where's the spawn of hell?"

Bri frowned in response. "I don't know. He must have been with Ben and they took him, too."

"I'm sorry, but 'the spawn of hell'?" Hardison questioned. "Have y'all been watching too much Buffy?"

Bri grinned. "No. It's what Eliot calls Spike, Ben's dog. He thinks the dog is inappropriate."

"I never woulda figured you for objecting to the whole 'a boy and his dog' thing," Hardison told his teammate.

Eliot gave the hacker one of his death glares even though the other man was pretty much immune to them. "It's not the _dog_ I object to. It's the breed. _Spike_ is a wiener dog."

It took Hardison a moment, but when he got it, he broke into peals of laughter. "A wiener dog named Spike? That's great!" Sucking in lungfuls of air, he asked, "How did that happen?"

Bri shrugged. "I told Ben he could have a dog. Eliot told him he should get a big, tough one and the boys named this unseen dog 'Spike'. Ben then picked out the dachshund and stubbornly clung to the name. Eliot's called him the 'spawn of hell' out of Ben's hearing ever since. He's really a very sweet dog."

"If they took Spike, too..." Eliot started.

"They obviously knew enough about Ben's routine and normal riding habits," Bri finished. "Yeah. I thought of that. I _know_ Danny and Madge weren't involved, but I'll give you a list of everyone else tomorrow." She motioned at the doors. "Lock up and set the alarms." Wrapping her arms around herself, she glanced at Eliot before exiting the room.

Hardison turned his attention back to his laptop, filling in the rest of the information he had and adding a list of supplies. As he sent the email to Nate, he asked casually, "So what's the story with you and psycho chick?"

"I wouldn't call her that to her face, Hardison," Eliot replied as he put leftovers away. "Bri's an old...friend."

"A friend, huh? Was she really hired to kill you?"

"Yup. Tried it, too. With one of my own knives. Once she stopped trying to make me into a pot sticker, we talked and figured out the same guy had hired us both." At Hardison's look, he hastened to explain, "For different reasons. We've kept in touch over the years. Worked together a couple of times."

"What's your connection with Ben?"

Eliot shrugged easily, hoping Hardison couldn't read the tension in his body. "He's a good kid. I knew his father. When Bri asked me to keep an eye on him, I said I would." He nodded at the computer. "You done there?"

"Can I leave it running? I've got the web crawlers going."

"Yeah, long as you don't come down here to play. I'm gonna turn on the motion detectors."

"And that says paranoid delusions like nobody's business," Hardison commented as Eliot locked the doors. "She does realize she lives in the middle of no where, right?"

"So speaks the man who wired our new offices for sound and video the first day we were in them," Eliot retorted, tossing Hardison his duffel. "Come on." He motioned for the other man to proceed him up the stairs, then paused at the bottom to set the alarms, then took the stairs two at a time to reach the top before it activated. "You can't go down again until Bri or I shut them off."

"What about up here?" Hardison asked as he followed Eliot down the hall.

"You're good. Ben wanders sometimes so they aren't on up here." Eliot paused outside a door. "This one's yours." He pointed across the hall. "Mine." He swung his arm around and indicated the door next to his. "Ben's, then Bri's, and," he pointed to the last door at the end of the hall, "that one leads to the third floor and more room. We can bunk up there and let the girls have these rooms tomorrow."

Hardison frowned at him. "Why? Is there like spiders or bugs or something? Cause I don't do bugs."

Eliot rolled his eyes. "No bugs. Just one big open space which won't work for Sophie. Parker won't care, but Sophie..." He just shook his head rather than finishing the sentence.

"Yeah. Okay." Hardison paused with his hand on the doorknob. "Hey, Eliot?" When the hitter turned to look at him, he indicated the closed door that Eliot had said belonged to Ben. "Can I see the kid's room?"

Eliot frowned. "Why?"

"I dunno. To make him more real I guess."

Eliot gave him a look normally reserved for Parker, but opened the door. "Don't _touch_ anything," he growled.

"Yeah. Okay," Hardison said absently as he entered the room. He wasn't sure what he had been expecting, but the room didn't quite match it.

For one thing, it was perfectly neat. The bed was made; navy comforter pulled up with a stuffed elephant resting precisely in the center of the pillow. At the end was a small pillow which he assumed belonged to Spike. Bookshelves lined one wall--all of the books placed neatly and in size order. Across the top were models; cars, a plane, two horses, and a ship obviously built with care. Underneath the window rested a table with a half-finished chess game on it. On one side of the table was a dresser with a few pictures on top. Hardison stepped closer and saw that they were of the boy and Bri and even one of Ben and Eliot with the boy perched on top of a horse and Eliot standing looking up at him; a wide smile on his face. Another showed Ben sitting proudly on the same horse. On the other side of the table was a wooden toy box with Ben's name carved into the front. "Okay," Hardison commented after looking around, "so she obviously cleaned the room."

"No," Eliot said from where he still stood in the doorway. "This is the way he keeps it."

Hardison looked around the room again. "Look I dunno kids, but no eight year old kid is this neat."

Eliot crossed the room, picking up one of the black chess pieces before obviously thinking better of it and replacing it. "Ben is. Come on. Go to your room."

Hardison took one final look around before allowing himself to be herded out. "That is _not_ normal."


	6. Chapter 6

All right I have been getting a lot of alerts for things on here, which I am assuming means people are not taking a look at my profile. Completely understandable, but I feel kinda bad that y'all are alerting things and never going to get an update for them…sorry, but I'm not posting on here anymore. Mostly because my multiple personalities are taking over my brain and making it difficult for me to keep track of things.

The main reason this account is still active is I have friends who post on here and I like to be able to comment to them when they post something new or help them out with things. Sooo with that in mind, I'm copying what I posted in my profile and posting it in each of the unfinished stories:

Okay so my multiple identities are now taking over my brains and I am not sure who I am or where I'm going. Joke! But I am trying to get all my writing condensed down into two accounts. With that in mind...I will not longer be posting here. Nothing new is going to go up here or will be finished here. If something is incomplete, it will either not be finished or it will be moved over to my livejournal account. I'm not going to take anything down, but I am not going to be adding to anything either.

If you would like to find me on the web from now on:

my **fanfiction** will be on live journal under the name shanachie_quill at http: /shanachie-quill .livejournal .com/

my **original fiction** continues to be on under the name medievalgirl at **http:/ www. writing. com / authors/ medievalgirl**

Copy and paste the websites to use them and remove the spaces (sorry refuses to let people post URLs that are not internal).

With that in mind, I also want to let people who have been asking know what of my incomplete work will or will not be finished or what I hope to finish. So of the following stories...here is what I am hoping/planning.

**Life Lessons**-I intend to finish this (although I'm not sure when)

**School Days**-I do not intend to finish this

**Not What He Wanted**—At this point in time I'm not planning to finish it, that doesn't mean I won't, but I'm not going to work on it at this moment—I screwed up the back story and I need to fix it

**Past Revealed**—At this point in time I'm not planning to finish it, that doesn't mean I won't, but I'm not going to work on it at this moment—I screwed up the back story and I need to fix it

**SGA2 Saves the World**-I'd like to finish this, but I've kinda lost my SGA muse...so if I can find him again...I shall

**The Handbook to InterAgency Co-Operation**—I'm considering emailing my co-author and seeing if I can just plow through the last couple of chapters and finishing it…I'll get back to y'all on this

**Through the Looking Glass**-This is not going to be finished at this time

**Playing with Fire**—At this point in time I'm not planning to finish it, that doesn't mean I won't, but I'm not going to work on it at this moment—I screwed up the back story and I need to fix it

Okay so not as many as I feared, but more than I thought...if that made any sort of sense. Hope to see y'all over at one of my other identities. I won't be closing this account because I do have friends that write on here and I'd like to be able to leave them reviews and such...but like I said I won't be posting here anymore.

I think that's everything, if you have any specific questions feel free to PM me.


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